nice review.
G-on Riders tv Review
Story & Characters
A highly recommended show. One of the few truly funny shows about.
Okay, now that we've gotten the important bit out of the way (should I bother getting this show?), let's get into the nitty gritty.
What’s G-On Riders about? Well, if you’ve heard of Excel Saga, then the way to describe this series would be Excel Saga done right. Maybe it doesn’t cover quite as broad a genre spectrum as Excel Saga, but what it does cover, it covers well.
If you haven’t heard of Excel Saga though, then let’s call G-On Riders a satire of the genres within Japanese television entertainment with emphasis on its animated component. Much like Genshiken, only much more physical.
Basically, the story starts off as a magical girl series with various other genre conventions thrown in for color, and flavored with a dash of every fetish imaginable.
Okay, maybe not <i>every</i> fetish imaginable, but most if not all the major fetishes are covered, with special attention given to the Bespectacled Girls and Strawberry Panties convention.
Sound good but a little lame so far? Not at all. You’d be surprised at how entertaining this series is once you get pass the fanservice stigma. Everything they do is so shameless, yet so well done that it doesn’t seem like they’re trying too hard at all. How many times have you heard a series is hilarious, but when you actually watch it, it seems like the humor is just plain forced?
The thing with G-On Riders is, as I watched it, I found myself smiling and even laughing out here and there. That’s not something that happens often. It’s the kind of show that if you watch it at midnight, intending to go to sleep after an ep or two, you’ll find it’s already two in the morning and you’re telling yourself, okay, one more ep, <i>then</> I’ll go to sleep.
There’s just an addictive nature to G-On Riders. It’s a bit of a guilty pleasure, much like UFO Princess Valkyrie (sans annoying kid Valkyrie), but you’ll just want to see what happens next.
The running jokes don’t get old, because they’re used sparingly. For instance, the main character has a certain speech pattern. Initially, she says ‘Ni’ (like a knight who says ni) a lot. But once that point’s been hammered in, they cut it down drastically so as not to be annoying.
It also doesn’t hurt that G-On Riders actually has a very enticing story. It’s simple, yet effective. You’ll just have to watch to find out what it is though.
I’ll just end this here and move on to the other parts of the review now.
Anywho, highly recommended, a fun series indeed.
Addendum: Incidently, while I'm probably going to rate this series low in individual categories, the overall score is actually around 8 or so.
Rating:
Art
Frankly, I pay little attention to art and sound.
Still, if pressed... There's nothing in particular about the art in G-On Riders that bothers me. The character designs for the main heroines are fine. Granted they're nothing special, but then again, they couldn't have been anything else. They're both inspired and restricted by the story really. The main female, Yuuki, is cute though. And if you’re talking about cute, you don’t get much cuter than the villains.
Actually, while the art might not be anything exceptional, and the designs do the job they’re supposed to, like everything else about G-On Riders, it’s not the individual facet, but the entire package that makes it so good. That and they simply do things ‘right’. Not exceptionally, but ‘correctly’.
In that sense, the art’s actually really well done. Character designs are as they oughto be, with a couple of the villains being far better than any anime character has a right to be. You’ll know what I mean if you get a chance to see this show. There’s one character that just plain stands out. It’s pretty hard to miss her, even in a series like this.
Rating:
Sound
Like I said, art and sound, I tend to ignore unless they're bad or so exceptional I can’t help but notice them.
Not much to say about the sound I'm afraid. The opening and closing music rock on like rocks on an inactive volcano. You don't get much more rocky than that unless you’re a moonrock on a moonrock on the edge of a crater on the moon. That’s mighty rockin’.
But the in show music, I never really noticed. There’s nothing wrong with anything there, but it’s not like there’s a special sound effect that’s out of this world or anything.
The character voices, with their speech patterns and so forth, add a whole lot of flavor though. Aside from being ideal for their characters to begin with.
The voice actors are simply spot on. Not just spot on as in correct, but spot on as in, they evoke personalities <b>in</b> their characters, rather than evoking the personalities <b>of</b> their characters.
Still, like the art, I can’t actually give it a high score. It’s done <b>really</b> well, but not done exceptionally noticeably.
Rating:
Presentation
I think I've covered a lot of this in the main review. I just couldn't control going on and on about it over there, that's how much fun G-On Riders is.
In terms of fun factor, this show is right up there with Azumanga Daioh and UFO Princess Valkyrie and Air Master. Particularly with the last two. Especially with UFO Princess Valkyrie.
However, as with UFO Princess Valkyrie or Air Master, there’s some guilty pleasure factor in this series, and while no where near as bad as Air Master earlier eps (few series are as bad as Air Master’s first 3 eps mind you), it <i>does</i> take an open mind and a willingness to be guilty to get started with G-On Riders.
Learning curve’s no where near Air Master though, and probably even a little better than UFO Princess Valkyrie.
Like I’ve already said, it’s just a plain fun and funny show to watch. It’s one of those few truly addictive shows. It has the potential to bring a smile to your face. Not many series can do that, frankly.
Lesse, what else? Obviously, there’s the fanservice. Though unlike with other series where the fanservice might get annoying, with G-On Riders, you’ll be entertained rather than annoyed. Unless of course you appreciate fanservice as any ‘normal’ person ‘should’, then there’s value there as well. But if you’re like me and you basically don’t care one way or another about fanservice for its ‘excitable’ values, then you’ll have the chance to be entertained by the antics in this show.
Heck, even the in-show characters enjoy the fanservice.
Rating:
Final Verdict
7.0000 (above average)
Reviewed by updatedude, Nov 20, 2004
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